MOS sensors are solid-state imaging devices which have recently been actively developed as a result of reviewing their features, such as lower power consumption than CCD sensors. In such MOS sensors, unlike CCD sensors, charges stored in light-receiving sections are not read from imaging regions by reading the insides of substrates, but charges stored are read out as electric (voltage) signals to signal lines, in the vicinity of light-receiving sections, and output from the imaging regions through the signal lines. The signal lines are referred to as output signal lines and are disposed above the substrates. Besides the output signal lines, signal lines for supplying signals to read electrodes in order to initially read out the charges stored in the light-receiving sections and reset signal lines for erasing charges in pixels are similarly disposed above the substrates. These signal lines are disposed above planarizing films which cover elements, such as read electrodes, on the substrates. Furthermore, since the number of pixels has been increasing in solid-state imaging devices, a light-receiving section and signal lines per pixel must be placed within a small area. Consequently, signal lines are formed in a multi-layered manner above planarizing films, and in some cases, signal lines may overhang above light-receiving sections.
FIG. 27 is a sectional side elevation showing an example of a waveguide structure in a conventional technique. As shown in FIG. 27, in the conventional solid-state imaging device, in order to prevent incident light from being eclipsed due to irregularities caused by read electrodes, incident light is guided to a light-receiving section 1 by a waveguide 20 provided in a planarizing film 11 covering read electrodes 15.
However, in such a structure, it is not possible to avoid eclipses due to signal lines 7 disposed above the planarizing film 11, and thus the advantage of providing the waveguide 20 is significantly reduced. Furthermore, since the conventional waveguide 20 is disposed so as to fit a space between the read electrodes 15 which are placed substantially symmetrically on both sides of the light-receiving section 1, the waveguide 20 cannot be adjusted so as to meet the asymmetry between a plurality of signal lines 7 disposed above the planarizing film 11 with respect to the light-receiving section 1 or overhanging of the signal lines 7 above the light-receiving section 1.